Why Imus Will Silence The Doubters

It's still not official official, but it looks like the people around Don Imus and Citadel Communications are quietly confirming yesterday's report of a December restoration, judging from all the follow-ups today.

"The big questions going forward are whether the advertising support will be there and the guests will return," says Variety.

Didn't we already cover this? Yes and yes. Yes because Imus fans are both numerous and fanatical, and have been very smartly flexing their muscle ever since their hero got booted in April (although I can't get SupportImus.org founder Keith Adler to return my calls).

Yes because Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (ie. the aggrieved party) have all given their blessing to Imus's return, while the president of the National Association of Black Journalists has indicated she might sign off, too, under the right circumstances.

(Practically the only person who seems exercised about the situation is Curtis Sliwa, who looks like he'll be kicked out of his WABC time slot to make room. "[Imus] deserves to be back in the game -- just not in my seat," he told the New York Post.)

And, above all, yes because Don Imus may be a lot of things, including racially insensitive* (and I base that judgment more on his long-ago quip about Gwen Ifill than on his "nappy-headed hos" outburst), but he's not stupid. He won't need that 40-second delay to keep him in bounds -- at least not for the first few months.

*Update, 2:26 p.m.: Okay, Imus fans, you were right and I was wrong. "Racially insensitive" originally read "a wee bit racist," but that's not the right word, so I changed it. ChannelXRFR has a good point: Imus has said he made the "cleaning lady" crack in character as a KKK type, and meant it as a satirical comment on the Reagan White House.

But hiding behind a character only gets you so far. My point has always been that Imus must understand that certain jokes are just never going to sound good coming out of the mouth of an old white guy in a cowboy hat. I think he probably does understand that but makes them anyway out of some sort of perverse principle. Clearly his fans admire that impulse more than I do.

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